A delivery from the knight bus
by Ms.Kona
Summary: Sirius Black is having a rough time at home. What happens when his father takes things one step too far? and who's there for the young wizard to pick up the pieces.


It was nearing the end of the summer holidays. Remus had come home to see his parents for a few weeks before heading back to Hogwarts a week or so early for the full moon so his parents didn't have to worry. He didn't mind this arrangement, in fact, it suited all parties better than him staying at home for the full holiday or staying at Hogwarts. This way he didn't have to stay in an empty castle and he got to see his parents. His parents got to see him and didn't have to worry about the medical fallout of the transformation on their limited budget. The holiday had been somewhat boring for him so far. His parents' house was a lot quieter than the common room at school and without Sirius, James and Peter to keep him occupied, there wasn't a lot to do. He'd done all of his homework during the first week of his holiday, having no other distractions other than helping his mother take care of the house. The rest of his time had been spent reading books he'd already read and wandering through the house looking for things to do. He'd already packed to go back, waiting for the morning to arrive when he'd be apperated back to school by the matron Madame Pomfrey.

This particular evening he could be found staring out of the front window, curled up on the sofa and bundled in a blanket. He'd been going even crazier the past few days. He'd been out of contact with Sirius and that worried him. The last time he'd seen Hermes, his boyfriend's owl, he had brought bad news of his parents becoming ever more abusive towards him. That had been nearly a week ago now. Usually Remus would send his letters back with Hermes, letting the owl rest for a few hours perched on the end of his bed before he flew home. Sirius' parents were less likely to intercept his own bird than one sent by the owl post office. But the lack of anymore post delivered to him prevented Remus from being able to send anything back to check that all was okay. So he resigned himself to checking the sky line, waiting for any sign of the black owl's return.

The waxing moon had already started taking its toll on Remus and coupled with his boredom he started to dose slightly. Every time his head drooped he woke up again, not wanting to head to bed before the sun had set. It was a weird habit but he liked staying up on the nights he wasn't otherwise occupied with his 'furry little problem'. He'd almost fallen fully asleep when he heard a crash from outside the window. Waking instantly, he sat up, peering over the back of the sofa, wondering what was going on. He blinked furiously as he thought he saw a badly driven triple decker bus, hurtling down the street towards his house. He was sure it was running things over, but only as it got closer did he realise that things it was about to hit were jumping out of its path as if aware of the danger approaching. He rubbed his eyes, not believing what he was seeing. He was sure that he must be dreaming. He'd never seen a single bus stop near his house, never mind a bus of this size. He was about to turn away when the bus turned itself towards his house. He watched, wide eyed as it narrowly avoided the building, stopping just short as the bushes jumped out of the way to avoid being damaged. It was now that he noticed its peculiar purple hue and the writing on the side saying 'The Knight Bus'. He rubbed his eyes once more, willing it to disappear. He'd heard strange tales of this bus, none of them that boded well. He heard the pounding of footsteps on the stairs as his father came down from his bedroom.

"Is everything okay Remus? I heard a noise," he called from halfway down the stairs.

"Its fine father, just…something outside," he called back, moving finally to the front door to see what was going on properly. "I'll just go out and check. It's probably just a stray cat. You can go back to bed."

His father hummed uncertainly watching his young wizard son walk towards the door. "Call me if you need any help."

"I will do. I'll be fine." He smiled uncertainly up to his father before removing the enchantments that kept the door firmly closed. Moving outside, Remus kept his fingers wrapped tightly around his wand, closing the door quietly behind him. He stared up at the large vehicle blinking slightly. It was definitely impressive to look at. His head turned to look at the back of the bus where he heard more noise. He heard the thud of something heavy hitting the ground followed by muffled uneven footsteps. There were a few muttered words of thanks and the bus instantly set into motion again. There was another loud bang and Remus wasn't sure whether the bus had simply turned a corner or had disappeared entirely. He turned his attention again to the figure stood at the bottom of his garden path. Now that the bushes had moved back to their rightful places the figure seemed closer. A whispered word lit the end of his wand just enough to see that the figure was clearly a man. He was tall, but hunched over with the weight from dragging whatever it was behind him and he seemed to be favouring one of his legs as he walked. His face was hidden by the hood of his black robes.

"C-can I help you at all?" he asked, his stutter returning slightly due to the weirdness of this situation. At the sound of his voice, the figure faltered, dropping his burden and lowering his hood.

"Remus?"

There could only be one owner to that voice. Without another word being spoken, Remus ran towards him, throwing his arms around his boyfriend. Sirius tried to take his weight as he normally would but his leg gave way, leaving them both lying in the dirt, Sirius whimpering in pain. Remus removed himself quickly; realising there was something wrong and knelt next to him. He wasn't knelt there for long before there was a hand on his shoulder as Sirius hauled himself to his feet. Even through the gloom of the setting sun, Remus could see the grimace of pain he couldn't quite hide from his eyes. "What happened to you…?" he asked quietly, not certain he wanted to hear the answer.

Without another moment's hesitation the old mask was back on his face and Sirius smiled. "I don't know what you mean, Moony. I'm fine, fine as always." The smile on his face didn't reach his eyes which seemed to still be clouded by pain. He offered Remus the usual hand to help him to his feet and Remus accepted it, though he noticed the arm wasn't as strong as it used to be. Sirius managed the few steps back to his trunk before his limp became more pronounced with the weight of dragging it behind him. Remus rushed to help, fully expecting to be shooed away and was surprised when Sirius relented. "Thanks," he muttered quietly under his breath, both moving to the front door. By the time they reached it, both Remus' mother and father were stood in the doorway waiting.

"Sirius, darling, what a pleasant surprise," Mother called, stepping from the door in her nightgown and enveloping him in a motherly embrace. Remus watched as Sirius flinched. It was a subtle movement not many would notice but having seen how confident Sirius usually was around everyone for so long, it stuck out like a sore thumb. His mother really didn't seem to notice either as she held him for a moment longer than she probably would have normally. She finally released him putting her hands on his shoulders as if to admire him like she did to Remus all too often. That was when Father turned on him too, offering his hand to be shaken.

"Welcome back, Sirius. To what do we owe the pleasure of seeing you again?" His voice was kind, even though Remus was sure he was loathe having his prankster friend back in his household. Maybe he'd seen the limp too.

"I've had...problems at home. James is away and I don't think Peter's Grandmother could cope with me again. I don't mean to arrive un-announced but I didn't really have another place to turn to..."

Remus knew that was a lie. If he'd had problems at home, Remus had always said to come to his parents' house first. It was his duty as a boyfriend. He felt himself flush at the thought, finding himself moving closer to Sirius and the door.

"Maybe we should go inside...The night's only going to get colder," he suggested, looking between his father and mother. All he really wanted was to speak to Sirius alone. Both his mother and father relented, moving to let the two boys through. Remus still supported Sirius' weight while his father dragged the trunk in from outside. They went to sit in the living room, Sirius and Remus half falling onto the sofa while his mother went to make some hot chocolate and his father sat on the only other chair - an old but comfortable arm chair. He sat for a moment, looking at the boys, fingers steepled and tapping his chin in thought. He watched as Remus fussed and Sirius swatted his hands away with instinctual precision and how Remus sat far closer to Sirius than he did with even his own family. He finally understood why he continued to associate himself with the three trouble makers. As his wife came back in the room carrying a tray of hot drinks, one for each of them, Remus' father stood.

"I think we should leave the boys to it, Hope." he said quietly, taking two cups from the tray. "They need their time alone." Whether she understood why or not, she nodded, placing the tray on the small coffee table and moving to kiss both of the boys' heads in turn. "We'll be upstairs if you need us, boys. Remus, make sure you take care of our guest." Remus nodded in agreement watching as both of his parents left the room.

Any defences Sirius had left crumbled as they were finally left alone and he fell into Remus' arms, Remus holding him tight even through the small whimpers of what he assumed were pain. Even through the layers of robes he could tell that there was something wrong with Sirius' body...It didn't feel right. When enough time had passed just holding him close, he finally lifted Sirius' chin and placed a small, delicate kiss onto his lips, trying to see what happened through his stormy grey eyes. They revealed nothing to him.

"What happened to you?" He asked softly. Sirius closed his eyes, turning away. Remus didn't back down. "Please Sirius, let me help you..."

Sirius shook his head. "Please...show me how I can help you Padfoot." these last words where whispered as Remus held Sirius close to him, one arm around his shoulders, the other on his closest arm. Remus held him like this as finally he released his emotions, choked sobs coming from his heaving chest though no tears fell from his eyes. The raw emotion shocked Remus to his core – Sirius never became emotional, not like this. Angry, yes, exceedingly happy, of course - but never like this. Remus held him while he cried, letting him be close. It was all he could really do. He knew Sirius would talk when he was ready.

Without warning Sirius began to shift in his arms. There was a prickle of magic that tingled against his skin. Before Remus was really sure of what was happening, instead of sharing a sofa with his boyfriend he was sharing with a big black dog. Remus was momentarily shocked. It wasn't because of the transformation – he was used to that. It was the new marks that covered the dogs back that truly scared him. There were lines of fur missing, too many to count and them all overlapping at least two others. Where the fur was parted he could see shallow cuts, fresh and some still bleeding where he lay. "Oh pads…" he whispered. He knew enough about animagi to know that if he got cuts in his human form, they would transfer onto his animal form too. Without even asking, Remus knew his father had done this.

He couldn't help it as a tear leaked from his honey eyes, falling onto his sleeve as he gently stroked between the dogs' eyes. Big stormy grey eyes looked back up at him before he let out a muffled whine. They sat there for a while, Remus not saying anything and stroking Padfoot between the eyes and behind the ears gently. It was relaxing for them both and it wasn't long before the pull of the soon coming moon and the excitement of the night pulled Remus into a light sleep.

When he stirred again it was well past midnight. He was awoken by movement and by the time he was aware of what was going on, the dog had gone and Sirius had returned, fussing over the mugs that had been left on the table. Remus didn't say anything as the mugs started steaming slightly again. The raven haired boy must have known he was awake though as he handed Remus his mug when he turned around.

"It should be me looking after you Pads, not the other way around," Remus teased lightly, taking the mug. It wasn't too hot, just how he liked it as he took a sip. Sirius' lip crept up into a slight ghost of a smile as he watched the young werewolf before it quickly disappeared again. Remus didn't miss it and didn't let Sirius look away when he tried to. Remus tilted his chin gently, brushing his pale cheek with a gentle thumb. "Are you going to tell me what happened?" he asked softly, looking from one grey eye to the other. Sirius shuddered almost unnoticeably. This wasn't what he wanted.

"I – I didn't mean….it was dad, he was, I was, it wasn't my fault, and then mum and –"

"Easy Sirius, it's okay. You can calm down now. He's not going to get you from here, I promise you that." Sirius seemed to visibly relax as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before trying again.

"We were having dinner with the family," Sirius started. He looked into the dark hot chocolate in his mug and this time Remus let him. He moved away to lean into the corner of the sofa, settling in to listen to the story.

"They were bigoted as always, but I was trying to ignore it and just eat. But then stupid Cousin Narcissa had to drag me into the conversation. Asking me what were the best ways to kill and torture half breeds and muggle borns and…" he paused, taking another deep breath followed by a quick sip from his mug. Remus waited for him to continue. "I refused to continue the conversation and excused myself from the table. I just wanted to be alone in my room but dad followed me from the room. He told me I had to re-join the dinner party and that it was rude to leave so abruptly after being asked a question. He said I had to go back in and apologise but I hadn't done anything wrong so I told him no…He didn't particularly like that…" A shadow fell across his face and Remus leaned a comforting hand on his shoulder as encouragement to continue. The physical contact must have shocked the young wizard out of whatever trance he had been in as his head flicked up so quickly Remus thought it must have hurt his neck. They locked eyes again and the shadow lifted slightly as he started to continue again, staring into his mug once more.

"He ordered me into the room and when I refused again, he cursed me…" Sirius' voice cracked at that before he regained his composure again. "He…used Crucio on me, and made me crawl back into the dining room." His voice was flat and dead now, as though he was just reading the words out of a book. "He told me to apologise again and I told him no again…. This time Abraxas took offence too. Apparently it was 'no way to speak to a superior' and he gave my father his cane. My…father…hexed the back of my robes open and ripped them away so he could use the cane to…to…" He faltered again, closing his eyes and covering his face with his free hand. "Well…you saw what became of it," he said finally once his voice returned. "As soon as I could I ran to my room and packed my things…I knew James wouldn't understand so I caught the knight bus here…"

Remus was speechless. He'd been beaten for something so trivial. He couldn't quite believe it. He held his arms out and Sirius fell naturally into them, placing both mugs back onto the table. The young werewolf just held his boyfriend close, stroking his hair gently. It was only when he felt something wet hit his hand that he realised he was crying. "I'm so sorry Pads…I wish there was something I could have done…If you'd moved out sooner…If I'd persuaded Dumbledore to let us have the summer at school…anything…" He was rambling more to himself than to Sirius now, but the sound of his voice was calming and soon Sirius was rambling back.

"It wasn't your fault Remus, I promise…everything will be better now, I'm never going back. James' parents will take me in I'm sure…"

The sound of each other's continuing voices served to calm each of the boys down and they were soon both just lying together in silence, not needing anymore words. Remus nuzzled into silky soft black hair, happy just to have him back within his arms. The summer had been too long to be apart. Sirius nuzzled his chin back, happy to be held by his Remus once more. The summer had been long for him too.

Remus' eyes soon started to drift close when Sirius suggested they moved to his bedroom. It would be more comfy on the bed he argued. Remus agreed with little complaint and helped Sirius up the stairs. He'd get his father to look at the wounds in the morning. For now, they both needed rest.


End file.
